Equinox

In its uneventful moments, it's gratingly bad. As soon as strange things begin to happen, though, it becomes an entirely different movie: artful, surreal, and charmingly personal in style.

Both the highs and lows of independent B-movie horror are on display in this little fantasy/adventure. The low-rent stop-motion special effects give the movie a charming quality to go along with some different surreal/weird moments. However these pros feel few and far between, as the majority of the film seems to be just made up of fascinatingly bad acting and boring nonsense. Only worth a watch for B-movie and horror fans to recognize some of the influence this movie had on films later on.

All the b-movie charm of a Don Dohler movie, but with less awkward nudity and inebriation.

Charming effects are a breath of fresh-ish air in an otherwise very stupid film. Maybe it's harsh to say this, but to see the story of its production and its creators' subsequent success as "inspiring" strikes me as very cynical: it's bright-eyed amateurs striving to emulate not only the spectacle of B-movies but their inanity as well, so that their work (and themselves) might be accepted into the commercial establishment (which it was, and they were).

Did MST3K really miss this one? Really bad with some amusingly crappy claymation and editing effects.

I expected this to be bad, and it was. The story is interesting in places, and some of the effects are cool, but it's all pretty thin and the acting is horrendous.

Ranking goes to the original version by Dennis Muren which is much better than the theatrical release by Jack Woods.

Amateur acting and a nonexistent budget can't kill the hallucinatory thrills provided by David Allen's stop-motion animation and the solid story line that informs this enduring cult fright fave. The devil appears as a forest ranger (!) played by Woods.

It has such a strong sense of love and respect for (producing) movies which makes this movie special in a way and the effects are quite good actually for such a low-budget and amateur film.

This movie defines not only logic and explanation, but also ratings. I'm not even sure what to think about it, really. Utterly crazy, outlandish movie that is part horror film, part dark nightmarish fantasy, but in the end perhaps its best summed up as a bizarre weird journey into utter insanity.

You probably know exactly what you're getting into when you watch this movie, but if you don't, it's campiness galore. In my opinion, a great rainy day movie. Hilarious and bizarre.

Equischrott

If you like Evil Dead you should definitely see this, because Raimi took a ton of stuff from it. And if he didn't, the similarities are amazing. Of course, Raimi's movies are silly because they're tongue-in-cheek, while this one is silly because it's so obviously an amateur production. The bad dubbing, flat acting, and continuity errors are laughable. But it's not just a "so bad it's good" movie. It's actually pretty good! Once you get over the low-budgetness of it, it's a fun time.

There's some good sprinkled in here, namely the monsters seen throughout & the low-budget 60's/70's vibes that add a lot of charm to the whole thing, but most of it doesn't really come together. The script is a mess full of poorly done religious themes & dull-as-dishwater characters, & it sort of feels like a short film stretched to its absolute limit with how clunky the pacing is. It is kinda fun & worth watching for the curious, but it's far from an all-time classic.

Charming

Used to really love this as a kid! But boy has it aged! Not well at that!

I have no idea why this is on Criterion, let alone how anyone likes it.

"...may very well be one of the best home movies ever made."

Basically an Ed Wood movie, but with some fun amateur stop motion, Herb from WKRP, and an acting role for the great fantasy writer Fritz Leiber.